Comment to Gardener's Multiple Intelligenes

Everyone is born with intelligence and many of us possess multiple intelligences. But, everyone has their own unique set of intellectual strengths and weaknesses. According to Gardener, “intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural setting.” Gardener also stated that each individual has seven intelligences and these multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened. The seven intelligences by Gardener are: logical-mathematical, linguistic-verbal, spatial-visual, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. I have witnessed how teachers in the classroom try to teach using different strategies because not all students learn the same way. I was doing a placement in a grade 8 classroom, and the teacher organized the classroom into seven different centres. Each of the centres was dedicated to one of the intelligences. The students did various activities that ranged from building models, dancing, making collaborative decisions, creating songs, problem solving, reading, writing, and drawing. Since most students are more dominant in one of the intelligences than other intelligences, some students did better in one centre than they did in others. The teacher found that this was an effective way of allowing students to learn new skills and to see which intelligence was most dominant for them. As a future teacher, I want to be able to teach using many different strategies and techniques because not all students learn the same way. The theory of Gardener is crucial in any classroom because it helps provide a foundation for recognizing the different abilities and talents of students. In addition, Gardener’s theory acknowledges that while all students may not be verbally or mathematically gifted, children may have an expertise in other areas such as music, spatial relations, or interpersonal knowledge. Overall, I think the multiple intelligence theory is

Cited: Concept to Classroom: Tapping into multiple intelligences - Explanation. (n.d.). THIRTEEN - New York Public Media. Retrieved January 28, 2013, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index.html Multiple Intelligences: Gardner 's Theory. (n.d.). The Springhurst Project. Retrieved January 28, 2013, from http://www.springhurst.org/articles/MItheory.htm